Record Set for World’s Largest King Cake

King Cakes are pastries that are associated with New Orleans and Mardi Gras. The cakes are actually sweet, yeast breads made with a dough that is similar to danish dough and are iced with bright colors and sprinkles. Many are also filled to make them even richer, and feature cream cheese-type fillings or almond paste, just to name a couple of options. I tend to see the early in the year, around Mardi Gras time, and have even made a couplemyself. I have never made one anywhere near the size of what Haydel’s Bakery just made. They set the record for the world’s largest king cake by baking two to encircle the Louisiana Superdome (a football stadium) TWICE! The ring concept works perfectly for the cake because king cakes are traditionally shaped in a ring – albeit a much smaller one – in the first place. The cakes were a very long braided yeast dough covered with sweet icing and lots of black and gold sprinkles.

The finished cakes weighed in at 4,068 pounds and 8.99 ounces, and 4,073 pounds and 7.12 ounces, with the larger of the two being the official record-setter. It used roughly 4,000 pounds of Danish flour, 286 pounds of yeast, 428 dozen eggs, 299 pounds of cinnamon sugar and 331 pounds of black and gold sprinkles. The need a forklift to move the cake pieces to the assembly site and had to set up 500 tables to lay the cakes on.

After the official weighing, hungry members of the crowd could buy generous chunks of the cake to take home, with proceeds going to support the Susan G. Komen for the Cure New Orleans.